08:40 : this is the first time I see Vilppu doing a direct drawing without any construction, and he makes it look so fast and easy! And I don't believe there's even a model in that vid! Someone need to setup an altar for this guy.
11:33: WTF was that!! The guy uses almost 1 - 2 fast lines to draw the contour from the trapezius to arm!!!! Mileage? It's more like inborn God-mode! Vilppustore needs to launch more Vilppu t-shirts so that more of us can buy them.
11:50: 1 - 2 line from trapezius to the end of lower forearm????

I think you look too much into things that Glenn doesn't give a second thought about, having 50 years of drawing experience.

The essence of his lesson, are three things; planar form flow (2D), space (3D) and how to put them together, i.e. not having them collide too much and everything else in the video is irrelevant.
(planar form flow is easy since we've been introduced to it when we learned to read/write, but space takes drawing from life and any form of 2D reference, like a 3D model on the 2D monitor, unfortunately won't cut it)
So one should draw having these three things in mind and 'follow' the subject strictly, 'transform' it to one's personal preference while still maintaining subject correlation and 'repeat', further transforming existing transformation.
This is the only way to build your own 'style' and being relaxed is perhaps the most important thing, since any sort of awkwardness while working shuts your receptors down, effectively denying you essential 'follow' and 'transform' steps.
(note that Glenn's video predominantly dealing with the first step ('follow'), gives a few hints of 'transformation' too)

@ Cola73: Tks for the link! In the previous episode where Proko interviews Vilppu, during the end of the video, I was so shocked when I heard someone like Marshall Vandruff asking Vilppu something like "how do you get the proportions so close to the final drawing during the gesture phase?" LOL Then Vilppu mention about the blind contour drawing thing, I believe, though he didn't use the term.
I'm starting to really see the power behind that exercise (now, Betty Edwards' blind contour exercise is right after all LOL)

I don't see how blind contours cf Nicolaides are going to help you with proportions, as it involves drawing blind for, possibly, hours, without proper feedback. It it is not going to help your eye or muscles, other than the realisation afterward that something is off. As I see it, blind contours is all about line quality.

That is a little misleading: the video is the conclusion of a life-long learning process. In this video, Vilppu uses construction, line quality, sense of proportion, anatomy, modelling, without even hinting at how to develop these prerequisites. It is a bit like watching the winner of a marathon finishing, and suggesting that throwing your arms up in the air and throwing yourself through a ribbon is pretty much everything you're ever gonna need when it comes to running.

What Glenn demonstrates in the video is classical drawing, a thing the student must master in order to complete the first year on an Academy of fine arts and I guess Glenn drew (more or less) like this when he was 20, or so.
However, for the vast majority of illustrating work the people are interested in here this is more than enough, so I commented in that sense.
Of course, there's much more to drawing than this video, but I think that's an entirely different topic.

Thanks for the video of Vilppu. I found it interesting to watch, but not a whole lot can be taken from it I don't think. I have to agree with one of the comments on the video page that speaks a bit critically of it. I enjoyed the interview with Vilppu that Stan did also though.

Mihail: Cool to see a student posting on DA! I think that some aspects of his work are a bit weak (painting, narrative, composition etc). But a few of his drawings are quite stunning. Also worth noting is that he mentions how long some took--the highly finished drawings are usually 15 to 20 hours, as opposed to some ateliers in the west doing much longer studies.

diamandis: Hahaha! That is hilarious I usually put my tablet on my lap though when I paint, guess I'm a bit weird!

Alright I feel a bit bad filling this thread with all these drawings from the Russian tradition, but I truly love this stuff and want to share. Maybe it is making the thread too lopsided though--later this week I will try to add more other stuff, or perhaps try to find more of the quicksketches from the Russians since they are quite different from the long poses I have been posting. Not sure when I will have time to find/organize the images and write stuff up on it though...

Here are just a few examples from the Repin Academy that I thought were nicely executed... I could comment on each one but I don't think anyone cares too much on what I have to say anyways haha, just enjoy with your eyes and minds. I also threw in an image of a bunch of student works together, it shows that the level of each student is consistently high, and also based on the viewpoints of the images it shows how closely packed in the room everyone is.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." -- Bruce Lee

Thank you for all these drawings Andrew. They are truly Amazing. The russian way is great, no doubt. Their drawings are so strong.

I am very interested in drawings from the Baron stieglitz school, its the one they refer to as mukhina in the realism vs Construction-thread right? I really love the look of those drawings. If you have more and can find the time to post them please do so.

Continuing on the russians, according to the other thread there is a school who teaches classical drawing in Denmark. There teachings are said to be based on Boris Kazakov. He was educated at Repin but taught at Mukhina. His student Artem Alexev, who was also a student of the Repin school, teaches/taught at The drawing Academy in Denmark. Im planning to go there in a few years. See this map from the realism vs Construction thread created by ca user Rasme, all credit to him/her.

Thanks for sharing guys! These constructive drawings are so incredibly alive and so strong. I'm really in awe at how skilled these artists are and what knowledge they have.

I had the honor of attending a 3 day figuredrawing course with Vilppu 2 years ago. If you ever get the chance to do so you should. It felt like I learned more during those 3 days than I had during the whole year before that.

Disegnia, cool to see someone with the same interest of learning construction. I've had my eyes on both the drawing academy in Denmark as well as Ilya Repin academy though they're both something I'm considering doing in the future.

Also, I can warmly recommend the drawing book from Repin academy. It's completely in russian but you get an english pdf with it when you order it, and the customer service is incredible. Really good. The principles it teaches are the same as discussed in this thread, although the drawings seem a bit more simplistic in their execution compared to the finished drawings shown here. The one's here being one step more rendered and detailed. Though I think it's a choice they made, to keep the reference images easier to understand and work with.

Id love to do a course with Vilppu, that guy is my hero. Maybe one day!

I say the same, its great to hear other peoples views on this subject. Thats awesome. Im really set on the drawing Academy, though it will be some years until i can go. If you ever go to Repin youre one brave man, thats a huge step to take. But Worth it, no doubt.

Ive had my Eyes on that book but i cant buy shit on the internet, need Another card for that. I guess its time to upgrade though lol.

Its time to post something in this thread and what could be better than this video by Proko on the subject of Construction, he calls it "mannequinization". Clear instruction, and for free!

And Andrew; I think you're very right in your view that good drawings go beyond construction!
But no doubt that construction and anatomy is something you need to know about.
And a very nice observation about the different manner in short poses (gesture vs. outline).

Durer published a book of proportions. All his geometrical approximations to the human figure can be found in there. There's also an old 2 volume set with every drawing he ever made. I think the analysis in that picture is more about showing a way of using calipers to transfer proportions from one sculpture to another.

Synthetic form?
I think it would be more accurate to call it analytic form. In general, the way almost all the popular books teach it, it's really a derivation and application of linear perspective, but these various examples also show several other different ideas being used. It's something that takes place after the real imaginative thinking occurs, or takes place after there's a real physical body already there to measure.